Pam is right. I do have a weakness for those yellow reproduction roses. So far I've tried: CHARLES DARWIN - definately a keeper if the subdued mustard yellow doesn't put you off. Also tends to shatter at the spead of sound. Nice bushy growth habit, long stems and so-so disease resistance. The fragrance is positively orgasmic. CHARLOTTE - truly a beautiful rose. Looks like a yellow Bourbon. Soft-soft-soft pure yellow color. Few thorns, gracefuly arching growth habit, good repeat, fully hardy in zone 5, and superior disease resistance. Alas the light fragrance was a disappointment so I shovel pruned her. Pity. HAPPY CHILD - see first post. MOLINEUX - the energizer bunny of the entire Austin line. Brillant kaleidoscopic color blending every imaginable shade of orange and yellow. Nice versitile growth habit and superior disease resistance (although it isn't bulletproof against black spot). Cheerful pompon flower form, strong stems (medium), sweetly fragrant (moderate musk and tea blend). Does lack the wow factor found with GOLDEN CELEBRATION or GRAHAM THOMAS but is a whole lot easier to grow. T-H-E best yellow Austin for the novice gardener. SYMPHONY - drop dead gorgous flower. Think a creamy yellow Souvenir de la Malmaison. Excellent repeat too, shapely shrub that stays under 4' and good disease resistance. Alas no fragrance, so she got chopped into mulch. THE PILGRIM - big and beautiful. Produces without doubt the most beautiful flowers that I've ever seen on a yellow Austin. Fresh and strong fragrance (Tea rose and myrrh blend) that reminds me of high quality mens cologne. Repeat could be better but by no means is this a once bloomer. Outstanding vigor. Good disease resistance. Love it. GRAHAM THOMAS (a classic), GOLDEN CELEBRATION and JUDE THE OBSCURE are the next must haves. I've seen all three in cultivation but want to finally try my own hand with them. Hopefully, I'll avoid the pitfalls, especially with GT.

I posted earlier about Tranquil Waters... a GREAT plant. I grow a few more Stamiles' on this thread right now. Here's my take: ABSOLUTE TREASURE- Gorgeous flower. Major rust magnet in my garden. I love the bloom and keep the plant, but I wouldn't recommend it based on the rust-magnet factor. I have several Stamile plants within touching distance and they are regularly unaffected. DRUID'S CHANT - Grows right next to ABSOLUTE TREASURE in my garden and is alway vigorous. I divided it in July (we've had a drought this year) and didn't do anything special to the pieces I put back in the ground. They look like they were never disturbed. Great plant - I highly recommend it! ALL FIRED UP - Amazing plant. Even though I'm not fond of oranges, this is one of my favorite plants year after year. Great blooms, great foliage, great plant. BLUEBERRY FROST - Almost tossed this one last year. I've had it for 3-4 years and it never did much. This summer, WOWEEWOW! Even though we had a pretty bad drought, BLUEBERRY FROST was an amazing performer. RAINBOW EYE - much nicer now that I've moved it to a place where it gets some afternoon shade. In all-day sun, it has a tendency to scape-blast in my garden. I was going to get rid of all of it last summer - dug it and didn't do anything with it. Last December, I planted it in my garden (it had been on my back porch in a grocery bag since July) and said,"if you live, you live." I told myself that I would sell it all at my Daylily Club's public sale (July 2007) if it lived. It was so pretty in its new spot that it never made it to the public sale. :) LAVENDER RAINBOW - What a great plant! Beautiful blooms, great plant habit. I love this one! CHANCE ENCOUNTER - Lovely and vigorous. LET LOOSE - I didn't think I would like Spiders - this one changed my way of thinking. I needed tall and yellow so I took a chance. It is currently the only thing blooming in my garden, although WILD AND FREE (Stamile), has put another scape. I love-love-love this plant!! CERISE MASTERPIECE - I brought this one home from the Stamile garden last April. It is a magnificent plant. Tall scapes, large blooms, amazing color. It was the first plant I ever spent $150 for and I don't regret it for a nanosecond! There are several others, but this post is long enough!! Meg :)

Ryan, Good as Gold is a rose that I still have in a 5 gallon pot after 2 years! I make the excuse for that because it was a horrible bare root that almost died. As a result (?) it has not bloomed a lot. But I love the blooms when it does. After having read that it gets big (and now confirmation from you on that), I'm inclined not to give it a precious spot in my front corral when I pot it up to 15 gallons. I'll probably keep it as a potted specimen on the driveway and see how big it actually gets before making a final decision. It hasn't shown any inclination to go big yet, but that's not surprising, given that it's been in the hospital for 2 years :-D Feiy Lo, now those are beauty shots of South Africa!!!

You and me, too, Bob. I regretfully, just a few weeks ago, dug out my mature Julia Child bushes because of their considerable black spot issues. Spraying for disease is no longer an option in my garden. Everything disease prone is getting shovel pruned.... just a handful more to go...and why not commit this drastic deed? There are so many disease free/highly resistant new rose varieties at my disposal to replace them, that makes it an easy decision to make, although expensive. Of course, Kordes seems to be on the cutting edge of introducing disease free roses. Look at the multitude of ADR winners they have introduced in recent history. Then, Meilland roses are not far behind Kordes. Austins? Aside from Olivia Rose, I can think of no other roses Austin has introduced that resists black spot sufficiently to thrive in my garden. Sadly, other than a handful of American rose breeders' output, other than Radler's Knock Outs, offer much in disease resistance that I have found dependable in that department. The beautiful, vigorous roses from Weeks, the product of Bedard's considerable breeder's skills, just are not dependably disease free in my garden. The only two 'yellow,' rose varieties I currently have, and am happy with, so far, are Moonlight Romantica and South Africa (really gold). South Africa is great for disease resistance, but the blooms are short lived....still a good rose, and not 'shovel pruning material.' Moonlight Romantica is fast becoming a favorite. It gets huge. Mine is currently growing as a climber, started as a tiny liner three yrs. ago, and has spread 8 ft. across a 4 ft. fence and is still growing. The flowers are huge, well formed, long lasting, and quite fragrant, AND unlike most climbers that take their time getting flower productive, MR has wasted no time pumping out blooms, and repetitively, from early on. It could be that being classed as a hybrid tea by Meilland, it has a HT's drive to bloom. Hope your plans with getting a really disease resistant/proof yellow rose pans out. Moses